Community Support for Family of South Park Shooting Victim; Comm Shop; Your Voice Your Choice Project Development Meetings in D1 Starting Feb. 26; Small Business Advisory Council; Destination Delridge

Home » Community Support for Family of South Park Shooting Victim; Comm Shop; Your Voice Your Choice Project Development Meetings in D1 Starting Feb. 26; Small Business Advisory Council; Destination Delridge


Community Support for Family of South Park Shooting Victim

Sadly, Dallas Esparza, the teenager who was shot in South Park on February 7, has passed away.

Please consider donating to the gofundme page set up for Community Support for his family.

The page notes, “This boy, who grew up in SP along with his brothers, is described by a teacher as ‘… a very special student who will be remembered as a kind, respectful young person.’ His mother is a single parent, and struggling to stay strong and present for her remaining children. If you can, please donate here to help defray hospital and funeral costs.”

You can donate here.

Council Votes Unanimously to Award $1 Million in bridge funding for Hygiene and Emergency Shelter Services

On Wednesday January 17, Mayor Durkan announced her intention to sell an underutilized City property known as the Communications Shop. Mayor Durkan’s proposal included utilizing a portion of the sales to support the urgent need for affordable housing and services for people experiencing homelessness.

This issue was first discussed in the Finance and Neighborhood Committee on Friday February 9th and again on Wednesday February 14th . There were three separate bills and two resolutions brought to committee for discussion and a potential vote. After three hours of discussion CB’s 119195 and 119196 were voted out of committee. CB 119195 relates to the sale of the property and was voted out of committee unanimously. CB 119196, related to the use of funds, was voted out of committee with three votes in favor and 4 abstentions. In response to a number of concerns including the allocation of funds related to homelessness, Councilmember Mosqueda and I worked together to draft a substitute to CB 119196.

The substitute bill allocates an additional $1 million in bridge funding for emergency shelter and drop-in hygiene services ensuring that these essential services will remain funded through 2018. The substitute bill also added a number of recitals outlining potential public health concerns related to the lack of hygiene facilitates, and addressing the need for bridge funding for service providers who either received decreased funding or whose funding was not renewed via the Homeless Investments Request For Proposal (RFP).

Pathways Home is the City of Seattle’s plan to address the City’s homeless crisis. Last year the Human Services Department announced that they would run a competitive process to re-issue all of their homeless dollars. In November of 2017 the Human Services Department announced the awards. Bridge funding was awarded to some of the previously funded organizations who were not awarded ongoing funding through this RFP. Bridge funding offered to service providers not selected in the Homeless Investments RFP process was originally limited to only less than six months for most recipients. This was an insufficient amount of time for some agencies to work with people receiving their services to find new services. I believe efforts to transition people to other services should occur and those new services should be demonstrated as more successful in getting people into permanent housing than the services being cut before bridge funding is terminated.

Among these underfunded services are emergency shelter and drop-in hygiene facilities. Hygiene services are essential part of our region’s public health response. It’s important that we learn from the hepatitis A outbreaks in cities such as Los Angles, San Diego and Santa Cruz. A public health crisis like this in Seattle is preventable. Hepatitis A is spread through close personal contact and is exacerbated by limited access to hygiene services.
While there is funding in Pathways Home for increased hygiene services, the majority of the increased services do not allow “drop-in” hygiene services. Unfortunately HSD announced cuts last year for “drop in” hygiene services. This bill restores critical low-barrier services in downtown and the University District.

In addition to adding $1 million in bridge funding and preserving all $5.3 million for the Mayor’s proposed uses that will come in a future recommendation of the Innovative Housing Strategies subcabinet, the subcabinet will now contain representation from the City Council.
This substitute bill co-sponsored by Councilmember Mosqueda and I was unanimously passed by Full Council on Tuesday February 20th.

Inaugural meeting of the Small Business Advisory Committee

This week was the first meeting of the City’s Small Business Advisory Council (SBAC). The SBAC was established in November of 2017 in order to provide an opportunity for Seattle small businesses to talk directly with City representatives about the issues most urgently impacting Seattle small businesses. In addition to representation from the Mayor’s office, Councilmember Mosqueda and I, the SBAC has representatives from nearly 30 small businesses from around the city. The inaugural meeting was an opportunity for the advisory council members to introduce themselves and share their ideas for how the City can support Seattle’s small business community. The SBAC currently plants to meet quarterly, holding additional, ad hoc meetings as necessary.

Your Voice Your Choice Project Development meetings in District 1 starting February 26

The Your Voice Your Choice Parks and Streets grant program will be holding five Project Development meetings in District 1 between February 26 and March 26.

The Project Development meetings will narrow the proposals in each of Seattle’s 7 Council Districts down to 10 options for public voting; proposals are currently being reviewed for feasibility and being within the budget limit of $90,000.

According to the Department of Neighborhoods, more than 1,000 ideas were submitted citywide by the public.

Here’s the meeting schedule for District 1:

February 26, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., South Seattle College, Chan Education Center, Rm 202 – 6000 16th Ave. SW
February 27, 6 – 8 p.m., South Park Community Center – 8319 8th Ave. S
March 12, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., Southwest Youth and Family Services – 4555 Delridge Way SW
March 14, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., West Seattle Branch Library – 2306 42nd Ave. SW
March 26, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., Southwest Branch Library – 9010 35th Ave. SW

Anyone who lives, works or attends school in Seattle can participate.

You can view proposals on this map. Proposals are color-coded to correspond to one of the meetings, shown on the left-hand side of the map. The principal focus of each meeting will be on the projects listed in the same color. Project lists for each meeting will be uploaded at the Project Development page as they are available.

If you’re not able to attend the meeting focused on a project list, you can discuss it at another meeting.

The citywide schedule for all seven district is listed here. Information about eligible projects is here.


Destination Delridge

The Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association (DNDA) is a non-profit that brings together neighbors, organizations, and the business community with the local government to help build a more sustainable community. On March 2, they will be hosting their annual fundraiser:

“An exciting evening filled with fabulous food, drink, live entertainment, music, art and interactive games. Mingle and connect with 200+ attendees who share your passion for social justice and our community, as we gather to support DNDA’s Art, Nature, and Neighborhood programs.”

Join me at Destination Delridge!

When: Friday, March 2, 6-9 p.m.
Where: Metropolist in SoDo (2931 1st Ave. S)
Tickets: $100
Theme: “Oh The Places We’ll Grow”

In-District Office Hours

Today, February 23, I will be at the South Park Community Center (8319 8th Ave. S) from 2 p.m. – 7 p.m. Please be sure to arrive no later than 6:30 p.m. The final meeting of the day will begin at 6:30 p.m.

These hours are walk-in friendly, but if you would like to let me know you’re coming in advance you can email my scheduler Alex Clardy (alex.clardy@seattle.gov).

Additionally, here is a full list of my tentatively scheduled office hours for the rest of 2018. These are subject to change.

Friday, March 30, 2018
Southwest Neighborhood Service Center, 2801 SW Thistle St

Friday, April 27, 2018
South Park Community Center, 8319 8th Avenue S

Friday, May 25, 2018
Senior Center of West Seattle, 4217 SW Oregon St

Friday, June 15, 2018
South Park Community Center, 8319 8th Avenue S

Friday, July 27, 2018
Southwest Neighborhood Service Center, 2801 SW Thistle St

Friday, August 17, 2018
Senior Center of West Seattle, 4217 SW Oregon St

Friday, September 21, 2018
South Park Community Center, 8319 8th Avenue S

Friday, October 26, 2018
Southwest Neighborhood Service Center, 2801 SW Thistle St

Friday, December 14, 2018
South Park Community Center, 8319 8th Avenue S